Elisabeth Matthews
elisabethastro.bsky.social
Elisabeth Matthews
@elisabethastro.bsky.social
Exoplanets, disks, and everything in between 🪐💫

https://ecmatthews.github.io/
she/her
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
Update on the atmosphere vs no atmosphere debate for TRAPPIST-1 b and c -- here's a nice and (IMO) conclusive result from Gillon and Ducrot et al.: no thick atmosphere on either planet. arxiv.org/pdf/2509.02128
arxiv.org
September 3, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
Our paper on PSO J318 is finally out 💪 . I want to thank all of my coauthors who made this study possible 🙇 !! It could be that we see the first cloud seeding nuclei forming at the top of the atmosphere…?

arxiv.org/abs/2507.18691
July 28, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
It’s a beautiful day in Cork to kick off our symposium on giant exoplanets and brown dwarfs #EAS2025
June 26, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
NEWS: #NASAWebb has directly imaged a cold exoplanet in an extremely misaligned orbit for the first time. The observations have surprised researchers in more than one way: webbtelescope.pub/3ZSctun #AAS246 🔭 🧪
June 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
The evidence for biosignatures on K2-18b is flimsy, at best

Last week, Cambridge scientists announced the discovery of DMS and DMDS on K2-18b: what they call a "surefire biosignature."

Now, cut through the hype and get to the truth.

bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astronomy #science
The evidence for biosignatures on K2-18b is flimsy, at best
A Cambridge-based team claims to find molecules on an exoplanet that are only produced by life on Earth. Don't fall for the unfounded hype.
bigthink.com
April 22, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
𝗡𝗼, 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝟮-𝟭𝟴𝗯'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.

K2-18b is back in the news, now with a bold claim that biosignature molecules (DMS and/or DMDS) have been 'detected at 3σ'.

Most exoplanet astronomers are extremely sceptical about these claims, let's see why (1/n).

🔭🧪🪐 #exoplanet
April 17, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
At some point we need to have a discussion about the ethics of participation in press releases as scientists. From today’s K2-18b saga, Nikku Madhusudhan in the press release says ‘The signal came through loud and clear’ (1/n)
April 17, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
A direct imaging claim by Lagrange+ [https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.15081](“Evidence for a sub-jovian planet in the young TWA7 disk”) - a very clear point source but only one epoch… but it’s in the gap in the disk around the star. Will be exciting to see follow up. 🔭🪐 #astrodon
February 24, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Delighted to share that my latest paper is finally out 🔭🪐 find it here arxiv.org/abs/2502.13610. This has been a real team effort -- huge thanks to my co-authors and the whole of the MIRI GTO team ✨
February 20, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
With astronomy job season approaching, if you’re a PhD or early postdoc, PLEASE make a webpage and put your current contact details on it, so that searching for “< your name > astronomer” finds you first - more explanation how and why here: Unsolicited Advice #astrodon 🔭🪐
August 30, 2024 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
A team of researchers led by MPIA's @elisabethastro.bsky.social used JWST to image an old cold gas giant exoplanet. The measurement opens the door to studying cold Jupiter-like planets on wide orbits around old stars to test model 🔭
www.mpia.de/news/science...
Webb images nearest super-Jupiter, opening a new window to exoplanet research
James Webb Space Telescope delivers image of the coldest exoplanet ever observed, opening a new chapter in exoplanet research.
www.mpia.de
July 24, 2024 at 7:24 PM
What’s the coolest exoplanet you’ve ever seen?
July 24, 2024 at 3:27 PM
Hello astronomy hive mind! I'm looking for examples of exoplanet systems where a planet has been found - say at period A - and then a later paper claims that there is no planet at period A but there *is* a planet at period B that explains the data for the original planet claim. Any pointers?
June 4, 2024 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
One of the most useful little websites is symbolsalad.com, which has a huge range of mathematical and scientific unicode characters (like ¹ ₆ ≈ × ∞ + all Greek letters) on a simple webpage that doesn't have ads.

There's something so nostalgic about simple websites that just... work.
Symbol Salad
symbolsalad.com
February 20, 2024 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
Hi Bluesky! I'm advertising a position to join our modeling efforts to bring GPUs and machine learning/AI into both self-consistent and retrieval models for exoplanets. If you have interest in either ML/AI or in modeling brown dwarfs/exoplanets, please apply! due 2/12
jobregister.aas.org/ad/0395a595
January 26, 2024 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
November 30th is approaching 👀
Apply to write for us! Are you enthusiastic about science communication? Interested in developing your writing skills? Excited about joining a collaboration of over 100 astronomy grad students from around the world? We look forward to working with you ☺️ 🔭

astrobites.org/2023/10/21/a...
Apply to Write for Astrobites 2023!
Love astronomy, astrophysics, and science communication? Come join the Astrobites team! Applications due November 17th.
astrobites.org
November 28, 2023 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
A paper on the exoplanet #BetaPictoris b led by Leiden student Rico Landman showcasing CRIRES+ on the VLT - arxiv.org/abs/2311.13527 precise measurements of CO and water, P_rot=8.7hr and a RV precision of 0.3km/s. Hmm, 0.3km/s precision.... now there's an interesting thought! 🔭🪐
November 23, 2023 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
If you are thinking of applying to the postdoc position in exoplanet atmospheres at the University of Copenhagen, please feel free to reach out to me and ask any questions about my experience there 🙃
November 22, 2023 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews

🚨🚨I'm hiring !!🚨🚨

I’m looking for a Research Fellow to join my team at Trinity College Dublin to work on Extrasolar Atmospheres ☘️🪐☁️🔭

Deadline: December 31st 
Ad: jobregister.aas.org/ad/c1a19f23

Please share widely!
November 20, 2023 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
Reminder that the Big Ten Academic Alliance Fee Waiver program gives waivers for 15 schools' PhD programs (including OSU astro and OSU physics) for US citizen students w/ 3.0+ GPAs and diverse backgrounds! Easy form to complete due by Nov 15. btaa.org/resources-fo...
October 30, 2023 at 10:07 PM
HR8799 JWST data 👀

the inner disk is detected! and all four planets! what a beautiful dataset, congrats Anthony Boccaletti and team 🪐🔭🧪💫

arxiv.org/abs/2310.13414
October 23, 2023 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
Am kommenden Samstag ist es soweit – dann gehen bei uns eine ganze Menge Türen auf. Wer in der Gegend ist: schaut doch mal vorbei, bei unserem Tag der Offenen Tür! 14. Oktober von 10 bis 17 Uhr. Es gibt viel zu sehen, zu hören und zu machen – z.B. auch für Kinder! www.mpia.de/tdot2023
October 10, 2023 at 9:21 PM
so much cool science so little time 🪐🔭🧪
October 10, 2023 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Elisabeth Matthews
I am hoping to hire a postdoc to start in the summer or fall, to work on exoplanet or brown dwarf atmospheres! Details here: jobregister.aas.org/ad/c0d2c3a8
Join us here in beautiful Austin!
October 4, 2023 at 6:00 PM